Once Upon A Time 6x17 "Awake" Review

SPOILERS

“Awake” wrapped up two plot threads, which only brings us closer to the end of the season and possibly the series.

The pixie flower is a new magical device that was introduced in the episode, and I really didn’t like it, just because it was a new thing that appeared and magically solved their problems. Their explanation made sense; it only appears in the presence of great evil, and the Black Fairy is apparently the biggest evil out there. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The cryptic preview from last week made a lot more sense. They did not re-write the series, but rather showed a bit into Storybrooke’s past in which Snow and Charming manage to wake up thanks to the pixie flower Snow finds. They are able to see Emma as a young girl and have the choice to claim her and raise her, or leave her alone and let her grow up to be the Savior and save the town in the future. It was a really touching scene, and it was nice to see Snow and Charming back in their early selves. I liked seeing them integrate themselves carefully into the town and I really liked the scene with Charming and Mr. Gold, how Emma’s name “wakes him up”.

Snow and Charming outside of the gateway to Emma.

Killian Jones finds himself captured by Tiger Lily, and then the Lost Boys, and through a bit of magic sap he manages to send back a message to Emma with his shadow. I really liked Tiger Lily and want to see more of her. I’m glad she escaped; does that mean she will be back someday? It kind of seemed like a waste of using Neverland, though without Pan is it really the same Neverland anymore?

Snow yet again chooses to sacrifice her own happiness for her daughter and makes her take the pixie dust from the last flower to get Killian back (let me also just remind everyone that Gideon was the one who left one flower – he is still pretty annoying in the sidelines but not as evil as he could be). Finally we have him back, with words of forgiveness and a proper proposal this time. The unnecessary drama of the last few episodes is resolved and Emma has enough support to bring her into the Final Battle.

Regina convinces the townspeople to share in the sleeping curse and weaken the power of the curse. They do and it lifts the curse. Again in a callback to the early days of Snowing, the pair wakes up and sees how much the town supports them. And this (sort of) unnecessary drama of the sleeping curse ends as well. Everything is being cleared away and getting ready for the Final Battle, whatever that will be.

Since I’m not a fan of Zelena or the Black Fairy, I’m not really looking forward to next week’s episode, though maybe I’ll get lucky and one will kill the other.

9/10